The Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board held its first meeting of the year Feb. 14, where it rejected adding new qualifying conditions to the state’s medical cannabis program and upheld its recommendations on placing limits on the amount of THC that patients can purchase, according to a local KHQA report.
The board, which is made up of physicians, meets four times per year to discuss changes to Iowa’s medical cannabis program, the news outlet reported. At Friday’s meeting, industry stakeholders urged the board to increase both patient access and the amount of THC that patients can purchase.
The board rejected petitions to add panic disorder and ADHD to the medical cannabis program’s list of qualifying conditions, citing a lack of medical evidence supporting that medical cannabis can help these conditions, KHQA reported.
In addition, while state law maintains a 3% THC limit for medical cannabis products, the board has recommended a change that allows patients to access 4.5 grams of THC over a 90-day period, a recommendation that was also discussed at last week’s meeting.
Iowa lawmakers have introduced two proposals this legislative session that would raise this 3% THC cap—a bill in the House would implement a limit of 4.5 grams of THC over 90 days, as the board recommends, while legislation in the Senate would impose a limit of 25 grams of THC over 90 days.
The legislature passed similar legislation last year that would have replaced the state’s 3% THC cap with a rule that patients could purchase up to 25 grams of THC every 90 days, but Gov. Kim Reynolds ultimately vetoed it.
Reynolds has indicated that she would like to honor the board’s recommendation of 4.5 grams of THC over a 90-day period, KHQA reported, and the board cited a lack of medical evidence to support raising the THC levels any higher at its Feb. 14 meeting.
